Suspected heroin-related deaths already surpassed last year's total

A heroin-based drug mixture so powerful that it is known as "Gray Death" has made its way to Evansville.

And it might have been responsible for three deaths already. A toxicology test confirmed that the city had its first death blamed on the highly-potent mix of opioids last month, Vanderburgh County Coroner Steve Lockyear said.

Gray Death is a mixture of opioids and other drugs so potent that it has prompted warnings from authorities that it can pose dangers to not just the user, but anyone who simply touches the drug, including police or paramedics. Last month, after an overdose in Central Indiana, the state's Department of Homeland Security, Indiana State Police, and the state health department put out a warning about how harmful the mixture can be for anyone comes in contact with it.

"This stuff is even dangerous to handle," Lockyear reiterated this week. "Dangerous not just for the user but to kids or anyone else in the house."

Lockyear also disclosed that that there have been two other fatal overdoses that he believes could have been caused by Gray Death, but toxicology results in those cases are still pending. The coroner's office did not release the name of the person who died from the Gray Death overdose but did disclose that it was a 45-year-old woman. Though the death happened in May, Lockyear said the toxicology results in the case came back on Tuesday

Lockyear said that there have been 25 confirmed heroin or Fentanyl fatal overdoses so far in 2017. But counting suspected cases that are still pending, Lockyear said there have likely been about 30 deaths blamed on heroin or Fentanyl, which would have already eclipsed last year's total of 29 less than half way through the year.

"We may be at 30 already," he said. "I know we had one Monday morning, and we had two over the weekend I think that are highly likely to be overdoses."

And last year's total was more than quadruple the 2015 toll. Included in this year's running total are two more overdoses that Lockyear said could be tied to the Gray Death mixture. Gray Death includes both Fentanyl -- another opioid that is more potent than heroin -- and carfentanil, which can be used to tranquilize elephants. Its name comes from the gray color that the mixture becomes.

"The toxicology is as impressive as any I have ever seen. It's got everything in it. It's got heroin, carfentanil, Fentanyl, cocaine," Lockyear said. "It looks like one of those punches at a frat party."

Lockyear said that Gray Death poses a danger not just to the user but to "anybody in the house" and first responders who are called to such overdoses.

"We found some on her (last month) we thought, but it is so dangerous that we won't even field test it," he said "... It's too dangerous to field test."

Because of the possibility that heroin can be mixed with other drugs to make the substance more powerful, the police department has been "additional precautions when dealing with any substance that could possibility be heroin," Evansville Police Department Sgt. Jason Cullum said.

Even before the emergence of Gray Death, local authorities were warning that Fentanyl was being added to batches of heroin to make it more powerful. Evansville saw its first combination heroin/Fentanyl fatal overdose last year, according to coroner's office.